Minibuses are good for congested cities

It’s a vehicle type missing in cities like London and Paris, but found in many emerging markets. Minibuses are more dynamic and responsive than large buses. They can be a better fit for the geography of European cities with their narrow streets and road complexity.

And yes, you can paint them green.

some green minibus porn

“The bus is extremely cosy. It’s the cleanest, most comfortable — and definitely the warmest — bus we’ve ever been on”- The Londonist

Buses can be a good time

The minibus form factor also creates a friendlier environment. We found people more likely to acknowledge each other and create conversation.

On the other hand, these were weekend nights in East London, so…

:) :) :) :) :)

👍s + ✌️s

“The most unusual thing about it was that people — strangers, no less — were breaking the №1 rule of using public transport in London: Don’t talk to anyone.” - CNET

Humans like music

Well, at least on a night bus they do.

unauthorised video

stolen from social media. don’t sue us

Humans like USB chargers

Well, if you make an app that uses up charge, you might as well give some back?

Humans like Busmojis 🐙 🐒 🦄

We wanted to improve the bus experience, by somehow tying the app and bus together. One of our users’ favourite app features is the ‘get off’ alert for bus stops. We decided to have more fun with this and give each user a unique emoji on their app, which shows on the internal display when it’s time to get off.

And thus was invented the Busmoji!

Busmoji in action

An app alone can market a new service

Traditionally, bus operators advertise extensively to promote their service, updating physical bus stops and local advertising, even for minor changes. This is expensive and cumbersome.

We drove awareness and traffic from our app, without using any other means, even with the route covering a small fraction of our user base. In fact, this was a particularly tough route, since it only runs late at night, and lacks the recurring users of a commuter route. And yet we still managed to generate unique users every weekend.

This is positive news for a more digital and responsive future for buses.

A ‘smarter’ bus can be built by spending less

We built the entire technology stack for a bus, starting in our own office. We built a driver app, a smart display, tracking software, scheduling systems, control systems, even strange flashing headsigns.

Software for buses requires yellow vests

We have been able to run our buses smoothly. We made software updates, even during live operations. We provided accurate realtime data in our app, as well as supporting open data.

All at a fraction of the cost of what traditional bus systems do.

Clearly @lostwholeworld wasn’t on the bus when the router broke down

Our open data has been incorporated by major journey planners

Surreal.

We built an app using open data from TfL, and utilising maps and platforms from Google and Apple.

Now Google, Apple and TfL show our bus in their apps and planners.. sending people to our bus!

Achievement unlocked.

Other scrappy but capable journey planners

We didn’t mess things up

Believe us, one of the greatest things one can achieve in the bus industry is simply not to mess things up.

We didn’t mess things up (touch wood).

And thus, we go on to the next round.

Good bus? Bad bus?

So yes, it’s been good fun, and we’ve learned a lot.

But if we’re honest, it’s been quite frustrating and challenging. We haven’t been able to do any of the really innovative things we wanted.

In the next part, we’ll tell you about the challenges we’ve faced and why we believe the bus industry is stuck in the past. And why the change it requires is more fundamental.